How far do you walk?

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I've been deeply shocked at some of the expectations on threads recently, that a child can't manage a couple of miles to school, etc, when in my day we all did it, without exception.

I do think that younger generations are incredibly out of the habit of walking, and missing out on so many benefits, social, physical health, mental health, enjoyment, being in touch with your environment, etc. Walking home together was a daily social event at my school, we walked around 3 miles home from primary, and maybe 3.5 miles from secondary.

My own children went to a school 4 miles away, and there was a bus, but they mostly preferred to walk, and are all fit, healthy young adults now who regularly do sport, as in team games a couple of times a week ( in their mid/late 20s)

I walked 7 miles to school during the pandemic, as our school didn't want staff on public transport, and we all had to sign to agree the policy to avoid public transport as far as was reasonable - this was not a problem, I enjoyed it

I have cancer now, and cant do as much, but still enjoy walking the 7 miles home at least once a week, instead of getting the bus - highly recommended by oncologist

A week or two ago at school I witnessed a school boy being challenged on his lateness, and he had a complete temper tantrum at the suggestion that he could walk to his train station while his usual bus was on diversion. It was less than a mile and a half, he was totally outraged at the suggestion.

AIBU to say that walking regularly is life enhancing, and the current generation are really missing out, and it is a habit that needs to be built up, and encouraged, rather than avoided?

I have a car but am lucky we live somewhere most things are walkable. (A mile or so)
usually do 10000 steps on a 12 hour work shift and 15-25000 on a more usual day with school run/ shops/ kids activities run etc

no car so walk and cycle a lot. anything up to half a mile I walk. beyond that I cycle unless public transport is a better option.

dc have 3 miles to school which takes 15-20 min by bike. 45 min on public transport. they prefer cycling.

keeps us fit and is good for mental health as well.

For us it is the time it takes.

Walking 0.9 miles to school is shorter than the drive as the traffic is so bad. We usually cycle which is even shorter still.

My work is 8miles away and takes up to an hour to drive depending on traffic, almost 2 hours on public transport door to door, and when I check Google maps it would take almost 3 hours to walk. Clearly I'm going to opt for driving. Cycling might work but I'm not that confident in traffic.

My DH never walks anywhere and it drives me mad. He'll ask for a lift to and from the train station which is a 15 min walk and is shocked when I do the walk myself.

No-one in my household drives or ever has, so let's take it as read that everyone in the house walks. The kids don't think anything of a short walk.

But I don't enjoy walking, and I'm quite aware of how much time it takes over my lifetime to get from place to place. 14 miles a day, 5 days a week is 20 hours. If you find that positive, I'm glad, but it's not for me.

I walk about a mile each way to work as I don't drive and to be honest I don't enjoy it at all, especially when it's raining or very hot. I think the area you're walking in really matters - it's one thing to stroll along country lanes to get to the pub but it's not as pleasant to walk in an urban area with lots of traffic, road crossings and industrial estates.

I already feel like too much of my time is being consumed by work, and I certainly don't want to have a long commute on foot to take up even more of my time. It's not so much the distance that's the issue, but the time it takes up.

You posted on a thread a year or two ago about a long commute on foot, no? The seven miles each way to a school bit seems familiar.

Pedals and feet in this house, lots

I walk to work but it only takes 10 minutes.

thatsvin a city centre. When I lived in suburbia I took the car everywhere. Now it hardly moves one week to the next, I pretty much walk everywhere.

I think I read somewhere that most adults over 40 walk less than 10 minutes a month! That can’t be right can it?

The reliance on cars sometimes shocks me. My children's school was a 10 minute walk from home across a scenic parkland, it was a beautiful start and end to the day to walk in nature and see the wildlife and changing seasons.

To drive to school took longer than walking as you have to drive a very indirect route all the way around the circumference of the parkland and then the parking is extremely limited and stressful. To drive would take at least 5 minutes longer than walking.

Several of my neighbours would always drive their children to school. They'd have to leave earlier and would return home later than me after the school run. I never understood that as the scenic walk was always the best part of the day. My children benefitted so much from coming out of school and letting off steam by running around the parkland.

I posted under a long lost user name to complain I had caught covid in school, yes, and some posters were trying to say I could have caught it somewhere else, such as on the way to school, but I didn't. I explained that I walked all the way, and had no contact with anyone at all outside of school. I think that was the thread, yes, or else it was something else about teachers walking to school to avoid spreading covid from public transport to schools during the pandemic! I can't remember - I do remember a couple of sillies accusing me of "jumping the shark" by saying I was walking 7 miles each way to school to protect the school, but that just demonstrates again that people are not prepared to consider walking as a viable method of transport - which is shame!

(and I still have not recovered my sense of smell since 2020, and am still annoyed with the member of staff who came in with symptoms and probably infected lots of us)

We don't have a car so walk everywhere. It would be lovely to walk somewhere once a week when it was convenient but we walk everywhere whether it's convenient, in foul weather, in boiling hot weather etc. It's miserable when you've got no choice, day in day out. It's time consuming too and doesn't help with fitness unless you walk at a decent pace. When it's hot you arrive at work all sweaty in your work clothes. You have to walk in trainers and carry your work shoes. You have to carry all your work gear- which might be heavy, depending on your job.

I like walking but I wouldn’t have time to walk 3 miles to my child’s school 4 times a day!

We don't have a car, so we walk. We both live close to our jobs, but when it comes to work, if it was further, I would look at public transport if it was quicker, mostly for getting home especially now it's dark. But I leave work at 3:30pm so it wouldn't be too bad from the point of view of getting home at a reasonable time, but 7 miles eats massively into your evening I would have thought, if you don't finish work until after 5, especially if you have to cook a meal when you get back. Arriving home after 7pm for me would mean having to instantly get cooking as soon as I walk in the door because I don't like eating later than 8pm. I like to chill for half an hour when I get home, not rush around (we don't have children).

well, I think you are keeping fit, so I hope that encourages you! Can you leave your work shoes at work? I do

YABU, my life isn't lacking or needing enhanced by me being a martyr and walking 7 miles to work.

I enjoy less activity, I am disabled with more then one condition and mentally I do better in the safety of my car than I ever would walking about. It's just not an option for me. We are not all missing out because we don't walk.

We walk all the time but for fun. Dog walks through the woods, foraging walks for pine cones, hill walking, stick collecting type stuff.

Walking to school isn’t feasible they are 8 miles primary and 9 miles to secondary along dangerous roads with no pavements or Lighting. The council puts on buses. It’s also partially a time thing.

I could take an hour lunch break and walk to supermarket and back during my lunch break. Or I could drive take a half hour lunch and get a half an hour exercise somewhere that is not a dirty pavement next to a road with all the fumes of passing cars.

It can do, it isn't two hours extra though, because the bus can easily be an hour or more anyway, so it is up to one hour extra, and yes, I do prefer to get up earlier and do it in the morning, rather than the evenings. I am past school drop off age, but when I did school drop off, it was always on foot

My DM grew up on the Hebrides. No school in her village so they all walked to the next one. Big girls looking after the little kids.

Apparently any passing truck would give them all a lift!

I walk a lot, 5k some days and 15k other days, I love walking. We always walked to school as kids and used to walk or cycle to visit grandparents in the next village. My lovely Nan walked every day too until she was almost 90, she’s now 97 and I believe she’s reached that age due to walking/cycling every day.

It's quite dark when my kids got out of school (4.30-5.30). Fine if home is just down the road but not so sure of it's a couple miles. Summer no issue.
I used to walk three miles to work and again back, but at that time I didn't have kids to drop off/collect. I wouldn't have the time when I did.

Yanbu.
I walk 2 miles to work, through a town so it isn't isolated. I hit at least 14k steps every day.
Most of my colleagues can't even manage a short walk at lunch after driving to work. We are storing up colossal health problems due to sedentary lifestyles. It's scares me tbh.

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/26/unhealthy-britain-half-of-adults-walk-less-than-a-mile-a-day-survey

i bet most people lied as well.

I walk 10 min to the train station and back everyday and probably walk a mile doing errands during the day. The next train station is 5.5 miles away but I wouldn't consider walking there, although occassionally I get off a stop early and run back.
My DC walk 15 min to school, and walk to after school activities which are about a mile away. I usually collect in the car though. DS sports lesson finishes at 8.30pm on a friday and we wait for him to be back before we have dinner. No one wants to wait any longer for him to walk back!
I think time is usually a factor - walking 3 or 4 miles is an hour, not everyone can fit that with other schedules, also not all routes are suitable or safe to walk. A new school was built in our town, the route suggested for pupils on the other side of town,was an unlit lane with no houses and no pavement. I don't blame parents for giving their kids a lift at least part of the way, to avoid that (although they have now put street lights there)

Why don't you ask if your school would be interested in implementing a workplace cycling scheme? It would part or fully fund the cost of a new bicycle for you. You could do 7 miles in about 40 minutes.

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-bikes-for-employees

I can't drive and have always been a single parent household, so me and DS are very used to walking. Primary school was a 40 minute walk each way and we did it from Reception. Secondary school is closer, a 25 minute walk.

I will happily walk for up to an hour if the weather is dry, if it's raining I'd probably get a bus. I can't walk to work as it's too far but I walk to the shops, doctor, dentist, etc. I do 20k steps a day easy.

DS is 15, he does want to learn to drive but due to me not driving he has learned to be very confident using public transport alone as he can't rely on me to take him everywhere and he's very fit and healthy, also happy to walk much further than a lot of his friends whose parents taxi him around all the time.

I don't find it miserable at all as a non driver!